


"Do you love her?" "Yes." "Then tell her, before it's too late."

by starstruckauthors



Series: AWAE Drabbles [1]
Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: #renewannewithane, Admitting, Anger, Angst, Anne is stupid, Bash is Smart, Bash is also a great single dad, College, Diana is wise, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Frustration, Gil is done, Go Diana, Green Gables, Lake of Shining Waters, Love, We are crackheads who stayed up till 11 writing and rewriting this, otp, the cliff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22779721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starstruckauthors/pseuds/starstruckauthors
Summary: Anne figures that Gilbert wants to be happy with Winifred, so she's packing up to leave for Queens two weeks early.Gilbert breaks things off with Winnie just for Anne.Everyone knows Anne's leaving, Gil doesn't know what to do.Bash and Diana, as always, pull these two to their senses.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Series: AWAE Drabbles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637686
Comments: 4
Kudos: 72





	"Do you love her?" "Yes." "Then tell her, before it's too late."

“Do you love her?” Bash asked, cradling Delphine.

Gilbert ran a fervent hand through his hair, pacing the kitchen. “Yes,” he whispered.

“Then tell her before it’s too late.” 

He looked at Bash worriedly. “How? How do I tell such a lovely being that I’ve loved her since she hit me with a slate?” he asked, his panic getting the better of himself. 

Bash sighed. “Blythe, you need to get ahold of yerself. Don’t be a idiot! You can do this.” 

“But Anne hates me! Especially since I brought Winnie to the state fair, and I,” he said, flailing his arms in exasperation, “didn’t say anything when she told me to have a wonderful life with her!”

“You had no clue she was going to say that! Ya might’ve been a bit dense then, but you cut things off with Winnie. You knew it wasn’t right! Ya just have to tell her why. Come on now, don’t be late!” 

………………………………………

“Are you sure, Anne? You’re positive that you want to leave for Queens two weeks early?” Diana pestered yet again as she helped her friend pack up.

“Yes, I’m sure Diana. What do I have left here? I’m not needed anymore, not by Marilla and Matthew, they’ll be fine without me, though I’ll miss them, and we’re all going to the same school anyway, what’s the point of staying here any longer,-” She trailed off, her voice quiet as she paced. She knew why she wanted to stay longer. She hoped that, for some reason, he would come back to her, telling her she had been the one he loved, not Winnie. But that wasn’t going to happen. He was happily courting Winnie, and her family’s wealth and prestige would get him so far, all the way to his dream job after his dream college. She was a poor orphan going to Queens. What she could possibly offer that was better than everything Winnie was? 

“Anne. You know what I mean. You’re avoiding him because you think he doesn’t want to know how you feel.” Diana folded up a dress and set in the suitcase. “And frankly, I don’t think he loves Winnie and I’m usually right,” she said bluntly. “And I also think you like living under the delusion of unrequited love. It’s rather amusing but infuriating. He deserves to know and you deserve to get it off your chest,” she said wisely.

Anne picked up a flower crown off her dresser delicately and put it in her bag, not wanting to admit Diana might just be right. Again. “But what if, what if he doesn’t want to know? What if telling him compromises what he has now! Or if he just, rejects me? I don’t think I can handle those possibilities, Diana. What’s the point? I need to be growing up, maturing, accept he is courting someone else and go to Queens.” She closed her suitcase.

“Maturity only comes when you let go of your childish fears, Anne. You and I both know that. Yet you insist on carrying this silly fear into your womanhood. Honestly, if you break because of it, I won’t be surprised,” she said, waving Anne’s new corset in her face.

Anne grabbed the corset, embarrassed. She went behind the folding screen and changed into it, along with the rest of her outfit. “I will never break. Gilbert cannot, not break me. I will handle it maturely, you’ll see Diana. By this time next year, I’ll be flourishing.”

Diana rolled her eyes and gave Anne her the underdress. 

She put it on, then grabbed her overdress and put it on, finally coming out to put on her heeled boots, the new leather ones Matthew had given her as a going-away present. “Really. You’ll see. I’ll handle the situation with the grace and elegance of a college student, not a schoolgirl. Can you help me with my hair?”

“Of course, come here and sit on the floor,” Diana said. “Honestly Anne, if you don’t-,” but Diana had abruptly stopped talking, her gaze averted to the window. “Oh my.”

Anne turned back around, walking carefully but still fast across to the window. “What is it-oh.”

“Mmm, Diana, one, Anne, zero,” she hummed, getting up. “I really must be going, I’ll see you later.”

Anne gave an unladylike noise. “Diana! No, don’t leave me here. With him. To deal with this on. My own. I-” She watched Diana leave with a smirk, politely turning it into a smile when she passed Gilbert outside.

………………………………….

Gilbert ran a hand through his hair, trying to tame his ferociously misbehaving curls. He snatched his cap and threw on his vest, wished Bash goodbye and ran to the stables to get his horse. He prayed he wasn’t too late, that she hadn’t left for Charlottetown. He clambered on the saddle and began at a full-blown canter to reach Green Gables. Past the Lake of Shining waters and into the Haunted Woods. Jerry was waiting there, doing yard work when he saw Gilbert, then rushed to open, seeing that the man had no intention of stopping. He lept off his horse and ran the rest of the way, wrenching the cap off of his head and clutching it in his hands nervously. 

“Hello, Diana,” he said, noticing the best friend leave Green Gables. 

Anne looked at herself in her mirror one more time before she, carefully, rushed down the stairs, gathered her suitcase and skirts, setting the suitcase by the door and, carefully, walked across towards him. “Gilbert. Hello. What are you doing here?”

He opened his mouth to say one thing, but another thing came out. “Your pen! I came to give you back your pen,” he said, internally hitting himself on the head for being so dense as he held out the pen he had borrowed for exam preparation. 

She took the pen, tucking it into the pocket she had specifically asked Marilla to sew in. “Anything else?” 

Gilbert looked at her, trying to get his brain to function. “Yes! Yes. There is,” he said, looking at the ground rather than at her eyes. 

She fought the urge to smile or squeal. She needed to think responsibly. “Well-I hope whatever it is doesn’t take too long of your time away from Winifred.” She gave a polite smile. 

“Winnie? Oh-no, Winnie’s in Charlottetown packing up to go to Paris,” he said dismissively. 

“And you’re going with her?” She already knew he was. But she wanted to ask again, just in case maybe, maybe she was wrong.

“Oh no. No. Her ferry leaves in about an hour, I haven’t the time or the will to go. But Anne, I’m not here to talk about Winnie,” he said, finally looking up at her. 

Anne kept the most lady-like expression of polite smiles on her face as she processed this. He didn’t care about Winnie. He didn’t care about Winnie? He didn’t care about Winifred! Diana was right. Why was he here then? “Then why are you here?”

“Oh Anne,” he said, half exhausted, half bemused. “Haven’t you figured it out? I left Winnie because I love you,” he said. And of course, Bash had been right. The words were easy came out of his mouth smoother than Mary’s freshly churned butter. “I love you, Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, and I’ve been in love with you since you hit me with the slate of yours.”

Anne faltered, her expression breaking. “What? And you still courted Winifred? And-and-even though I-I even wrote you a letter and told you I-but you-why-” She stopped talking, and just grabbed his hand, leading him into the woods, enough that no one would see them, then past all the way to the edge of the cliff, above the beach. 

This was what he loved about her. She was so-so fiery. So ready for anything. “Anne-slow down,” he said, panting slightly. “Slow down and let me explain myself.” 

She had finally stopped, now that they had gotten to the cliffs. The ocean below, steady tide coming in, birds flying above, all helped her get a better hold of her emotions. “You couldn’t explain yourself earlier? Such as, when we danced, or at the fair, or any time in between? You had to tell me now, just when I was about to leave it all behind?” She gestured to the waves. “When I was last here, I was thinking about you. That how unfair it was that you had left us all for a grand adventure. I wish I could've gone with you. And that you should have understood that I really cared about you. And then you came back and you still cared about me with my messed up hair and even after I wrote an article you got everyone to stand up for me and when I struggled with-well Mary and Delphine and the newspaper and my cake and then at the dance we danced and it was heavenly and then I got drunk and pirate and you were leaving for Sorbonne and I-” 

“Anne!” He shouted over top of her rambling. “Anne Shirley, stop it!” He wrenched his hand away from her, suddenly angered. “You-have no right of accusing me of being ‘unopened’ about my infatuation with you,” he snapped. “I was the most obvious boy in school! I was always gazing at you and you always ignored me! And then you had the audacity to talk to me about the Take Notice Board, trying to convince me to post something up and I was going to until you mention Ruby’s name! And even more so after that dance practice, you were going to say something yet you expertly dodged it! Then you saw me with Winnie at the state fair and yet again let your imagination get the better of you, thinking that I was and had proposed to Winnie! I was _in love with you_ , Anne! How could I propose to her when I loved you! And then you have the temerity to berate me about Winnie being my property and my only goal in life was to go to Sorbonne, and then accuse me of asking you if you felt the same way when you were drunk, yes was my fault, but you told me to go to Winnie! How was I supposed to know you loved me?! How was I supposed to know that I hadn’t hung my heart up to dry for you?!” he shouted, throwing his hands in the air. “How was I supposed to live without you knowing I loved you, Anne? How?” 

“By going to live your life with someone better! Why would I ever put myself above your goals, your dreams? Not even alcohol would let me put myself above your dreams! Your goals! I can be a part of your life, I so desperately want to be a more definite part in your life, I would love to, I love you. I-I do. It took me a long time to accept it, to believe it, but I know now I do. I-just-I-what are we going to do now, Gil? We’re both going off to college, and I do love you, and I suppose you say you feel the same, but I just-I-” She wanted to kiss him. But permission. Feelings. 

“Good God,” he muttered, rubbing his face with his cap. “I can’t. I cannot do this. I cannot constantly hope for you to realize that you are my life. That you are my dreams, my goals, my one true purpose. I cannot. I’m sorry, Anne, but if this is what you think of me and my love for you, I suppose we leave it here and go our separate ways,” he said, his voice weakening. _“God, I was a fool,”_ he thought as he turned to leave. His heart had shattered into a million pieces and if he stayed any longer, he was scared his heart would break even more. 

_Screw Lady-like._ She tugged on his sleeve with enough force that he fell (carefully, not enough to hurt she hoped). And then, politely, asked if she could kiss him. But she was impatient, so it was more like, “Can I kiss you-good.” And then kissed him, sitting down on the grass, on the cliff, a few hours before she left for college. Here she was. Kissing Gilbert Blythe.

Gilbert lay there like a rock. Like a rock. A stupid rock that wasn’t sure what to do. “Anne-Anne,” he said against her lips. “Look at me, Anne.” 

She stopped, annoyed. He didn’t kiss back for one. Plan failed. And, totally ruined her idea. Now she needed to return to the lady that was beyond him. Far beyond. She sat back up, straight-backed posture. “Yes, Gilbert?” 

He sat up with her, looking at her with a smile. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re beautiful?” he asked, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. “And amazingly smart. And when you get fired up, it’s like all the world knows Anne Shirley’s about to take them down? Do you know that I knew you and I were meant to be since you came here? Even if you hated me?” He leaned closer to her and his smile grew. “And that I’ve wanted you to be mine for a painful three years. And that I want you to be mine until I have to lay down in a grave?”

She blushed. “No. And did anyone tell you that you can get so very intense and passionate and it’s utterly beautiful? Or that you can get so happy in the small things with this adorable fond expression on your face? Or that you can be so confident in your own skin and be so irresistibly handsome?” She leaned in a little closer to brush his haphazard curls. “Or that I’ve been waiting to kiss you for at least a year now?” 

“Well, I’ve been waiting for three, so I think I win this one,” he chuckled, wrapping an arm around her waist. 

She leaned into it, putting her head on his shoulder. “Maybe we can both win? I know this is already the best prize.”

“Haven’t you won like, every prize,” he snorted, looking down at her. “I would like to win, for once.” 

She shrugged. “Fine. F-I-N-E. Me. You win me. Is that enough?”

“Oh Anne, you aren’t a prize to be won,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I thought that was what the whole argument we had in the school was about. Women being viewed as prizes and not human? Oh no, I haven’t won you. I’ve won your affection. That, next to whenever I decide to marry you, is the best prize I could ask for.” And with that declaration, he pressed his lips against hers. 

And, finally, they had no contradictions. That was their best prize, eventually, the rest of their lives with each other. 


End file.
